In a late 2016 lawsuit he argued that Advanced Munitions International, or AMI, didn’t have the money to build its promised $553 million “global headquarters,” research lab and ammunition factory on 236 acres in Blount County’s Partnership Park North.

In fact, the company controlled by Jim Antich and his son Jeffery didn’t have enough money to pay Kresser what he’d been promised to run the Alcoa facility, the suit alleged.

“They had borrowed money from me and then were unable to pay me,” said Kresser, now owner of EXIT Real Estate Professionals Network in Knoxville. “I was just trying to recapture some of the money owed to me through the suit.”

On Oct. 19, 2015, AMI announced, together with state and local officials, that it would break ground in spring 2016 and open in late 2018. Jim Antich said around that time it was to be an initial investment of more than $300 million.

Plan to create 1,000 jobs

Documents concerning the deal say it was to initially employ 285, expanding to at least 477 jobs within five years, at an average $43,800 annual pay and benefits. Ultimately, a second phase would employ a total of 605.

In return the company was to get $26.6 million in state, local and TVA incentives, not counting property tax abatements from Alcoa and Blount County.

But last week, on the deal’s two-year anniversary and deadline for groundbreaking, the Industrial Development Board of Blount County – an arm of Blount Partnership – announced the project’s essential collapse.

Both potential new tenants are interested in all 236 acres, which is the full extent of Partnership Park North, he said.

“AMI did not fulfill its terms of the contract with the Industrial Development Board of Blount County and the Cities of Maryville and Alcoa,” the IDB and the cities said in a news release. “In March 2017 the IDB took possession of the Partnership Park North property from AMI.”

Contacted by the News Sentinel, Jim Antich wouldn’t go into specifics about the project’s failure.

“Our team maintains ongoing communications with the Blount Partnership; we plan to issue a statement about our plans in the near future, as some final details are solidified,” he said via email. “We will update the community with our timeline before the end of the year.”

Muir said the last contact local authorities had with AMI was some time during the first week of October.

Big promises

Antich founded Advanced Tactical Armament Concepts in 2010, using a hangar and machine shop near the Payson, Arizona, airport to make bullets for police agencies. The company produced HPR Ammunition, ATAC Emcon, and BlackOPs brands, selling to military and civilian markets as well.

Then, under the name AMI, Antich announced the Blount County project but said ATAC would maintain a small operation in Payson.

Payson officials said in 2015 that AMI sought to expand there, but they had few incentives to offer and the town of 15,000 – surrounded by Tonto National Forest – had little room for development.

Gov. Bill Haslam said at the time that AMI was lured away from an Austin, Texas, site after being impressed with Tennessee at a National Rifle Association meeting in Nashville.

Antich said Tennessee officials gave him a choice of 10 sites statewide, but he chose Alcoa due the proximity of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Tennessee Valley Authority and other agencies.

MICHAEL PATRICK/Business journaL Gov. Bill Haslam, center, with Jim Antich, left, founder and executive chairman of Advanced Munitions International, and Randy Boyd, right, state commissioner of economic and community development, at the October announcement that AMI would locate in Blount County.(Photo: Michael Patrick)

The site also came with a whopping incentive package, including:

236 acres of land, bought by Blount IDB for $2.3 million but valued in 2015 at $11.3 million;

A TVA grant of $6.8 million, which the federally-owned utility refused to publicly disclose, but was detailed in other incentive documents;

A two-phase state FastTrack economic development grant, offering $4.8 million at first and nearly $1.3 million more “if Phase 2 is undertaken;”

Road work worth $2.3 million, with $2.2 million coming from the state and Blount County paying the rest;

A grant of $125,000 from Oak Ridge National Laboratory; and

Six years of city and county property tax abatements, from 60 percent in the first year of plant operations to 10 percent in the sixth year.

AMI has gotten none of the incentives

None of that money has actually gone to AMI, according to officials.

“The contract with AMI has not been executed, and the State of Tennessee has expended zero dollars of the grant to the company,” said TNEDC Communications Director Jennifer McEachern.

Gov. Bill Haslam praised the AMI deal in 2015. His press secretary, Jennifer Donals, demurred when asked for Haslam’s take on the project’s collapse.

“I believe Jennifer McEachern from ECD has already responded to you,” Donals said in an email. “ECD is the most appropriate agency to respond to this, and we have no further comments to add from what Jennifer has already sent you.”

In March, the Blount IDB took back the land, which remains undeveloped.

“No infrastructure of any kind has been done on the site,” Muir said via email. “The agreement was that AMI had to begin the project before any infrastructure work would begin.”

Financial foreshadowing

Local officials insist AMI checked out initially.

“More than two years ago, the IDB and state of Tennessee reviewed the development plans and financial records of AMI and deemed it to be sound for investment for a project of this size,” the Blount IDB statement says. “The IDB discussed AMI’s operation with the state, received a letter of good standing from its bank, spoke with its lenders and the leadership of the National Rifle Association, in addition to conducting its own background check.

“It’s very unfortunate that this project could not be brought forth. The IDB cannot comment on why AMI was unable to begin the project.”

But more than a year ago, disturbing signs emerged. In September 2016, the ATAC plant in Payson shut down. Reports at the time said the company was bankrupt and creditors forced its closure.

The facility, operating as HPR Ammunition, faced foreclosure from Alliance Bank, according to Arizona lawyer Jack Daniels. So Ammo Inc. bought the loan, sold off HPR’s inventory, and now operates the leased facility in Payson, said Daniels, speaking for Ammo Inc.

“HPR is gone,” he said. “We took over as soon as we acquired the assets of ATAC.”

Ammo Inc. President and CEO Fred Wagenhals is also owner of Mansfield LLC, though Ammo Inc. and Mansfield are not otherwise connected, Daniels said. Ammo Inc. is a public company with many shareholders, he said.

Currently, Jim Antich’s email describes him as president and executive chairman of Python Meteor Holdings Inc. and AMI Companies. According to Nevada corporation records, Python is a “member” of AMI Investment Holdings LLC and AMI Properties Development LLC, which all share the same official Reno address.

For the Blount County project, AMI relied on raising $5 million through Mansfield in exchange for 75 percent ownership of Python, Daniels said. Mansfield did so, but Jim Antich “didn’t like the money” for some reason, according to Daniels. Mansfield tried to return those shares of Python, but they remain in an escrow account because the Antichs won’t respond, he said.

“I don’t even know where they are anymore,” Daniels said.

Because Mansfield never took possession of those shares, AMI and its issues remain wholly owned by the Antichs through Python, Daniels said.

He alleges the Antich family companies owe $2 million to $3 million in federal taxes, but they’re ignoring all correspondence for Python, AMI and ATAC, forwarding it unopened to Mansfield and thus to Daniels in hopes someone else will handle it.

“They are the guys in charge and they just don’t want to deal with that,” Daniels said.

Legal warnings

In 2016 ATAC/AMI also faced a trademark infringement lawsuit from Scottsdale Firearms, which said it owned the trademark on HPR, Black Ops and Emcon ammunition brands and had not given AMI permission to produce them. That suit was dismissed in April 2017.

Kresser said he didn’t know about the copyright suit before he took Antich’s job offer.

“They (Jim and Jeff Antich) never even disclosed that they weren’t majority shareholders of the business,” Kresser said. Mansfield, the majority owner, took notice when the Tennessee deal was announced, he said.

“I think that’s when the buck stopped,” Kresser said.

Kresser, formerly CEO of gunmaker Taurus International, was named president of HPR Ammunition in August 2015. In that role he was to oversee daily operations of HPR’s corporate parent, Advanced Tactical Armament Concepts; soon afterward, he was reported to be CEO of AMI, in charge of the Blount County operation. On LinkedIn, Kresser describes himself as “president & CEO/Consultant” of AMI for a one-year span in 2015 and 2016.

But in November 2016, AMI’s then-spokeswoman Mary Beth West said Kresser was hired as president of ATAC only, which was separate from AMI.

Kresser left ATAC in early 2016 and filed suit in District Court in Knoxville against ATAC, AMI and affiliated companies. After spending “a lot of money” on legal fees, Kresser dropped the case in November 2016, when he realized the Antiches didn’t even have the money to settle with him, he said.

“I decided I had done enough damage to my wallet,” Kresser said.

He moved to Maryville at his own expense, on the promise of a job, and believes he was fooled too. Kresser started his own real estate business in January – without public incentives – and now employs 52 agents, he said.

If the Antiches turn up, however, Kresser would resurrect his suit “in a moment.”

“I’m not sure where the funding is coming from, but they must have a golden goose somewhere,” he said.